Saturday, Olympic Park, 7.30pm
Referee: Bernard Sutton

The Storm had last weekend off with the bye, which means the 10 players who were involved in Origin II for them will be fresh and ready to go. That is bad news for the Cowboys, who have been struggling whether their superstar player, halfback Johnathan Thurston, has been in the side or not. The Cowboys have lost seven straight games to sink to second-last on the table ahead of the last-placed Rabbitohs on points differential only. The Storm belted the Bulldogs 46-0 in their last home game, three weeks back, and there is every chance they will run up a big score against the Cowboys as well.

The Cowboys fell behind at home against the Knights on Monday night, before rallying to draw level with fulltime in sight. But the Knights came good again and scored another two tries to win 30-18. The Storm will make a point of getting everything they can out of this game the two competition points and a big score to help their points differential because the following week they will again be without their Origin stars when they play away against the Eels. The Cowboys might provide initial resistance, but the Storm will kick down the door before long.

LATE MAIL
The Cowboys may be without halfback Johnathan Thurston for their clash with Melbourne tomorrow night. The Queensland representative has the flu and is rated only a "50-50" chance. Thurston failed to train yesterday, and may not fly to Melbourne today, although coach Ian Millward said he may still be called on to travel on the day of the game. Toyota Cup player Sam Bowie is on standby. Five-eighth Chris Sheppard has already been ruled out with a leg injury. John Williams will start in his place, resulting in a backline reshuffle. Prop/second-rower Greg Burns has also been drafted into the squad, with Dayne Weston dropped.

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy will make a decision on his bench today.
Glenn Jackson

STORM: Billy Slater, Steve Turner, Matt Geyer, Israel Folau, Anthony Quinn, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk, Jeff Lima, Cameron Smith (capt), Brett White, Michael Crocker, Ryan Hoffman, Dallas Johnson. Interchange: Jeremy Smith, Antonio Kaufusi, Sika Manu, Adam Blair, Aiden Tolman (one to be omitted)

COWBOYS: Anthony Watts, Mark Henry, Ashley Graham, Ben Harris, Ben Farrar, John Williams, Johnathan Thurston (capt), Ray Cashmere, Aaron Payne, Carl Webb, Sione Faumuina, Jacob Lillyman, Greg Burns. Interchange: Sam Faust, Matt Bartlett, Scott Bolton, Shane Tronc